After years of dealing with corporate concerns that it’s not conducive for serious meetings, Hawaii is poised to turn such thinking on its head.
When the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum convenes Nov. 11-13 at the Hawaii Convention Center, Hawaii will step into the global spotlight as a gathering place for top political and business leaders from around the world.
“This is the most important convention in Hawaii’s history, hands down,” says Michael Murray, vice president of sales and marketing for the corporate, meetings and incentive division of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), of the upcoming conference, expected to draw 20,000 attendees from 21 countries. “It will be the ultimate perception-changer for us—a real opportunity for us to showcase Hawaii as a world-class setting for business meetings.”
Along with President Obama on hand as official host to welcome APEC attendees to his home state, the conference will draw numerous heads of state, finance ministers, government officials and some 2,000 delegates from Fortune 1,000 companies. Assuring that it gets plenty of media coverage worldwide, there will also be at least 2,000 international journalists in attendance.
“We will be in the eyes of the world for a week,” Murray says, adding that the presence of President Obama will be especially significant. “From a world leaders’ standpoint, when you’re coming to the president’s home, it’s a special thing. They will see where he was born and raised. Hawaii will benefit from this for many years to come.”
While meetings and tourism, particularly on an international level, are expected to get a boost from APEC, so is the Hawaiian economy as a whole, according to Murray.
“Other business disciplines will be able to showcase themselves, including the medical and technology sectors,” he says. “In the technology sector, one of the big ones will be alternative energy, including wind energy companies and a bunch of start-ups in this field.”
Meet the Neighbors
While most of APEC will take place on Oahu at the Hawaii Convention Center and other nearby venues, the neighbor islands are also gearing up to host delegates for pre- and post-convention tours as well as ancillary meetings. The islands are developing specialized tours for the delegates, highlighting local industries that, according to visitor bureau executives, are also a growing focus for their meetings business in general.
“We expect to get some trickle-down effect from APEC and are putting together packages,” says Terryl Vincl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau. “The APEC delegates are very much interested in how our economy ticks, things like energy, technology and agriculture. They can choose from different things that interest them.”
On Kauai, resources such as the National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Pacific Missile Range will play a part in APEC tours—as they do for other meetings coming to the island, says Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kauai Visitors Bureau.
“The National Tropical Botanical Garden, which has three locations on the island, has done a lot of work on endangered plant species, documentation and research,” she says. “They are really putting themselves on the map—and giving us a new opportunity to share it with people.”
Sustainable agriculture, including specialty farms and the farm-to-table movement, is also being showcased on the neighbor islands.
“Each island is looking to what they have to share in these areas,” Kanoho says. “So many organizations here are encouraging community gardens and growing food.”
On Hawaii’s Big Island, home to over 5,000 farms specializing in everything from livestock to aquaculture, agriculture is a big draw for business groups, as is the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELHA), according to Debbie Hogan, senior director of sales for the Big Island Visitors Bureau.
“We are very keen on sustainability here. We have to be because as an island, we have to import all of our fossil fuel,” Hogan says. “NELHA works on all kinds of alternative energy research, including geothermal, wind energy and solar energy. Conference groups can go out to the lab and learn about what they do.”
Like Murray at the HVCB, the neighbor island tourism executives are confident that APEC will give a big boost to their ongoing challenge to battle perception issues.
“Even just the announcement that APEC is meeting in Hawaii has already helped with perception,” Kanoho says. “It’s a notice to people that it’s okay to meet in Hawaii.”
Promising Forecast
Even without APEC in the equation, Hawaii’s meeting and incentive business has been making a steady comeback this year, according to Murray.
“There is pent-up demand from when the economy was weaker that is coming into effect now,” he says. “Groups are starting to pull the trigger and actually hold meetings, especially in the corporate sector—that’s up significantly for us. As a whole, meetings are up by double-digits this year.”
Incentive business is up not only by volume, but is characterized by programs that are less austere than in recent years, Murray adds.
“We’re seeing organizations that could not do incentives a few years ago for budget reasons going forward with them now,” he says. “They’re loosening up the purse strings and doing more team-building events. Our DMCs say they are using more off-site venues and that golf is being included. Things that were traditional before the recession are coming back.”
Sherry Duong, director of meetings, conventions, incentive and international sales for the Maui Visitors Bureau, also sees incentives on the rebound, but says the programs are still scaled back in comparison with those in pre-recessionary times.
“They are coming in, but they are being very conscious about spending,” she says. “They aren’t as lavish as they used to be, with big events every night. Now they are more likely to include a meeting in the morning.”
Angela Vento, regional director of sales and marketing for Starwood Hawaii, also sees more activity on the incentive side, along with lingering concerns about perception and spending. She also notes a similar scenario for non-incentive corporate meetings.
“With the economic recovery, people are considering Hawaii again, but there is still uncertainty in the marketplace,” she says. “We’re seeing more short-term bookings. The tech sector, which used to book six to 18 months out, is now booking 45 days out.”
Chris Tatum, vice president for Marriott International-Hawaii, says meeting and incentive business has been on a slow but steady increase since 2010, with incentive bookings for 2012 looking especially encouraging. Like Vento, he sees an increasing trend for short-term bookings on the corporate side.
“The first quarter of this year started out really well, with occupancies on Oahu, Maui and Kauai up over last year,” he says. “We’re getting a lot of short-term business—45 to 90 days out—which for Hawaii is unusual.”
